NIO breach equality on proposed Troubles amnesty
In a victory for civil society, the Committee on the Administration of Justice (CAJ) and Pat Finucane Centre (PFC) have welcomed a report from the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland (ECNI), published on 29th September which concludes the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) breached its Equality Scheme in relation to its proposed legacy bill. The ECNI investigation was triggered by a complaint from CAJ and PFC, made in July 2020.
Daniel Holder of CAJ said: “We welcome this investigation report by ECNI, which shines a light on haphazard Donald Trump-like policy making on legacy by the NIO. Its notable that the NIO departed from applying its Equality Scheme procedures properly at the same time that it unilaterally ditched the Stormont House Agreement. An equality assessment should have been carried out and made available on the policy at the earliest possible stage to highlight the impact of this change would have, including on victims and their families.” See https://caj.org.uk/2021/09/29/ecni-nio-investigation/ and https://patfinucanecentre.org/
The UN Human Rights Council has been examining concerns related to the Northern Ireland Office’s impunity proposals. The UK proposes introducing legislation that would include a statute-bar on investigating conflict related incidents, along with an unconditional and unqualified amnesty for conflict related offences. CAJ’s written statement to the Human Rights Council on these developments is available on their website. Amnesty International also input to the UN Human Rights Council and Grainne Teggart, Northern Ireland Campaigns Manager for Amnesty UK, said: “This blueprint for writing-off conflict related violations not only breaches the UK’s international and domestic human rights obligations, but unduly interferes in our justice system and undermines the rule of law. It sets a very dangerous precedent.” https://www.amnesty.ie/amnesty-and-troubles-victims-address-un/ and https://www.amnesty.org.uk/issues/Northern-Ireland
Another report, from experts at CAJ and the School of Law at QUB, on the UK government’s ‘Command Paper on Legacy’ concluded that the proposed amnesty is broader than even that introduced by Chilean dictator Pinochet and cannot deliver truth for victims of the Troubles. See https://tinyurl.com/3wf3ncp5
Practical peacemaking wisdom from the North
Emily Stanton’s new book, based on her doctoral research, has been published by Routledge. It is entitled “Theorising Civil Society Peacebuilding: The Practical Wisdom of Local Peace Practitioners in Northern Ireland, 1965-2015”, https://tinyurl.com/59zwn4cn It includes new information about the role of civil society in peacemaking in the North and, as it details in the title, develops a theory on the practical wisdom of local peace practitioners. ISBN 9780367496838, 236 pages, though unfortunately, in terms of availability, it is priced as an academic publication (the e-book is £33). The information leaflet for Emily Stanton’s peace trail “Untold stories – Touring Belfast’s grassroots peacebuilding history”, also mainly based on her doctoral research, is available at https://www.flickr.com/photos/innateireland/43899692560/in/album-72157676326740807/ and the frame beside that. Nonviolent News (e-mail and web editions) will review her book in the near future.
Dated and dangerous: Fossil fuel powering data centres
The issue of fossil fuel used by data centres in Ireland is emerging as a major issue as data centres (115 constructed or proposed) mushroom around the country. A report in The Irish Times 28/9/21 reported that “If all the proposed data centres for Ireland were to be connected they could use as much as 70 per cent of Ireland’s electricity grid capacity in 2030.” A short, 8 minute, video from Afri, “Code Red: The danger of data centres” looks at the issue of data centres with a particular focus on Co Clare: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bucw38roFlc&t=3s
On a more positive and ecological note, another Afri video looks at the work of Siolta Chroí (‘Regenerating people and wider nature’) in Co Monaghan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiGYI1SsxoI and https://sioltachroi.ie/ The Afri website is at https://www.afri.ie/
More ‘made in Belfast’ violence from Thales
Thales, the missile makers and biggest bomb factory in Belfast, have been awarded major contracts for the British Ministry of Defence to develop “directed energy weapons”, which use laser and radio frequency technology. See https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-58562436 StoP/Swords to Ploughshares, the network opposing the arms trade in Ireland (both jurisdictions and with involvement from a variety of individuals and groups) meets regularly via Zoom and can be contacted c/o INNATE innate@ntlworld.com
White poppies from PPU
The Peace Pledge Union in Britain has white poppies available as usual for the ‘remembrance season’ in November. “They represent remembrance for all victims of war, a commitment to peace and a challenge to attempts to glamorise or celebrate war.” White poppies are available in packs of 5, 10 or 100 along with other resources; see https://www.ppu.org.uk/remembrance-white-poppies for details. In Dublin, white poppies are available at the Winding Stair Bookshop, Lower Ormond Quay.
Ireland gives big tech free rein
A report from ICCL/Irish Council for Civil Liberties, published in September, details how, in the words of the author of the report, Dr Johnny Ryan, “The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) has failed to send draft decisions to its European colleagues on a very large number of major EU-wide cases. This makes it impossible to uphold data rights and police how Google, Facebook, Apple, and Microsoft, use people’s data across Europe.” See https://www.iccl.ie/news/europes-wild-west-damning-new-stats-on-big-tech-in-ireland/ with link to full report.
Irish peace movement history
INNATE is organising two remote/Zoom seminars on Irish peace movement history where a number of speakers will share briefly on a particularly memorable event or experience in the work. The first session, on work to do with peace in Northern Ireland, will be on Wednesday 17th November at 7.30pm, and the second, on international peace work in Ireland, will be at 7.30pm on 24th November. Further info and booking details in the next issue of Nonviolent News.
Church and Peace: Images of God – (Non)Violence
From 3rd to 5th September the AGM and international conference of Church and Peace dealt with the topic of Images of God and (Non)Violence. The participants explored manifestations of hierarchy, dominance, oppression, and violence – whether structural, spiritual, or personal. The aim was to determine the extent to which religious traditions and attitudes are linked to violence, racism, and sexism, to explore the connections between images of God and language, and to look at how language opens up or dictates how we think. It became clear that there is a close connection between authoritarian theology and patriarchal images of God, liturgies, and language patterns, on the one hand, and violence in churches, communities, families, and politics, on the other hand. Churches and congregations worldwide clearly have to grapple with these issues. The presentations, and other material are available on the Church and Peace website: https://www.church-and-peace.org/en/documents/international-conference-2021/
World Beyond War: War Abolisher awards
World Beyond war/WBW has three awards to be made at a 6th October ceremony. The Lifetime Organizational War Abolisher goes to Peace Boat https://peaceboat.org/english while the individual awardee is Mel Duncan and The War Abolisher of 2021 award goes to to Civic Initiative Save Sinjajevina in Montenegro https://sinjajevina.org/ Anyone can join the awards ceremony which takes place at 1pm Irish time on 6th October and further details are available at https://tinyurl.com/mfsu2pz8
Green growth?
The issue of ‘green growth’ is a thorny one and generates controversy. A new podcast from Feasta with economic researcher Beth Stratford outlines an agenda that she believes both degrowth advocates and green growth advocates should be able to sign up to. She describes four strategies for reducing growth dependency in the economy while simultaneously improving societal wellbeing. See https://www.feasta.org/2021/01/31/bridging-the-gaps-2021-podcasts-on-ecology-health-energy-well-being/
CCI work on independent living in Belarus
An article on Chernobyl Children International’s work in establishing an Independent Living Home for people with disabilities in Belarus, the first in the country, can be found at https://www.echolive.ie/corkviews/arid-40361606.html The CCI website is at https://www.chernobyl-international.com/
Conflict Textiles
Suitcases: Telling Textile Travels is an online exhibition of 23 international textiles from the Conflict Textiles collection focused on global displacement, both historical and current, its multiple impacts and the experiences of refugees both before and after they arrive and settle in their host country. On 4th October at 2pm, online, there is a guided tour of the exhibition, led by Roberta Bacic and on 6 October at 2pm, also online, an associated event – Conflict Textiles and CAIN: Learning the Language of Textiles, will provide a comprehensive background to the origins, development and mission of the Conflict Textiles physical collection and online archive. See https://www.platforma.org.uk/pf_events/suitcases-telling-textile-travels/ and